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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 7, 1972)
be Battalion Quarrels Would Not Last Long, If The Fault Were Only On One Side. THURSDAY — Occasional light drizzle or rain today and to night. High 45, low 4$. FRIDAY — Partly sloudy to cloudy with widely scattered showers. High of 57. Vol. 67 No. 193 College Station, Texas Thursday, December 7, 1972 845-2226 Apollos ‘Go’ Despite Computer Hassle By HOWARD BENEDICT AP Aerospace Writer CAPE KENNEDY, Fla. <A>> — Delayed for more than two hours by a computer problem coming within a breath of a flawless lift off, Apollo 17 vaulted toward the moon Thursday morning, pro pelled by a fiery rocket on what could be man’s last voyage to an other world in this century. The last flight of the historic Apollo series began at 12:33 a.m. EST as a thundering Saturn 5 rocket thrust Navy Capt. Eugene A. Cernan, geologist Harrison H. “Jack” Schmitt and Navy Cmdr. Ronald E. Evans away from their home planet on a scientific expe dition to fill in missing chapters of moon history. Despite the delay in launch, Apollo 17 went smoothly into earth orbit. To reach the moon, the spacecraft orbits the earth twice in slightly more than three hours. Then another rocket burst from the Saturn 5’s third stage will send the spacemen toward the moon and away from their home planet. Mission Control said the tardy launch will not affect the Dec. 11 arrival time at the moon. The lost time will be made up by per forming a more powerful rocket thrust when the spacecraft blasts out of earth orbit. FORMING AN ICE FLOW was easy Wednesday afternoon if one had the patience to wait in a freezing wind for one to form. The picturesque icicles were found atop the roof of the A&M Press building on its air conditioner water cooler. (Photos by Mike Rice) Rather Cites Government For Creating Trust Crisis The American crisis of trust in leadership will not be solved by fovernment management of news, a prominent television network journalist believes. "Our country’s problem today is a lack of communicable trust in its leadership,” Dan Rather stated in a Political Forum talk Wednesday. The CBS News White House correspondent said it runs straight through the Republican and Democratic Parties, from county courthouses to the White House. Rather believes the last evi dences of communicable trust were during the Eisenhower ad ministration and that “it must be built back.” “It’s a gut issue,” he informed an audience of more than 800 TAMU students, faculty-staff and administrators. “We’ve got to get truth out of our leaders.” “I don’t see it happening. What I see is when someone is in doubt, they stamp ‘secret’ on it. Then if the press gets it, administra- Record 1,224 Aggies Applied For Graduation Saturday A record 1,224 students have applied for mid-term graduation at Texas A&M Saturday. Houston attorney Leon Jaworski, immediate past president of the American Bar Association, will be commencement speaker. The exercises will be held at 9 a.m. in G. Rollie White Coliseum. Gen. Jack J. Catton, commander of the Air Force Logistics Command headquartered at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, will address students receiving military commissions at 1:30 p.m. The cadets’ first 1972-73 parade field review will take place after commencement and commissioning. Corps Commander Ronald L. Krnavek of Corpus Christ! will lead the review off at 3:15 p.m. Col. Thomas R. Parsons, commandant, said it will honor Gen. Catton, and about 130 newly-commissioned officers. Col. Parsons noted the review will not be of the Final Review type held at the end of the spring semester. He said it will be cancelled in case of inclement weather. Hundreds of thousands of per sons jammed viewing sites in the Cape Kennedy area to bid fare well to Apollo and to watch the blazing departure in the first after-dark launching of an Amer ican manned space flight. They all had to wait two hours 40 minutes beyond the planned liftoff time while experts trouble shot the problem with a com puter-driven device called an automatic sequencer. The countdown proceeded smoothly to within 30 seconds of the originally planned liftoff time of 9:53 p.m. EST when the de vice, for some reason, failed to pressurize an oxygen tank in the third stage of the Saturn 5. This caused the computer device to call an automatic halt to the countdown. Launch control recycled the countdown to 22 minutes and re sumed, only to be halted again eight minutes before launch. This, officials said, was to give experts more time to resolve the prob lem. Launch spectators were re warded for their long wait by the most dazzling liftoff in the history of this spaceport, where more than 3,000 rockets have been fired in 22 years. The astronauts rode quietly calling out the routine readings on their instruments. “At three minutes, we’re go,” Graduating Ags Need To Make Aggieland Plans Saturday’s graduating seniors who have paid for a 1972-73 Ag gieland are reminded they should make arrangements with secre taries in the Student Publications Office to have annuals mailed to a forwarding address. Students are required to pick up annuals in person or have them mailed. Forwarding addresses, plus one dollar for handling, should be brought to Room 216 of the Serv ices Building. said Schmitt shortly after the first stage rocket burned out and fell away. “You’re going right down the pike,” said Mission Control. Technicians both here and at Marshall Spaceflight Center in Huntsville, Ala., worked against the clock to overcome the prob lem. Experts here determined that a computer which controls the countdown was not able to ac cept the fact the third stage oxy gen tank was being pressurized manually instead of automatical ly as planned. In effect, they worked out a new program which told the computer to accept the manual pressurization. The new procedure was worked out on a mockup of the system at Marshall, the center which was responsible for development of the Saturn 5 rocket. After more than an hour of testing, technicians determined that the new technique would perform satisfactorily. The technicians were working against the 1:31 a.m. EST dead line — determined by the posi tion of the earth, moon and sun — beyond which launch would have had to wait until Thursday night. Apollo 17’s astronauts are scheduled to have a quiet day in space today. Here are the plan ned activities (all times Eastern Standard): 9:41 a.m. — The astronauts begin a six-hour, 44-minute rest period. 4:25 p.m. — Rest period ends. 4:55 p.m. — The crew eats breakfast. 8:33 p.m. — Lunch. 9:33 p.m. — Crew exercise period. 11:33 p.m. — The crew has dinner. The astronauts end their day at 1:03 a.m. EST and begin an eight-hour rest period. Mission Control said the times of some mission events during Apollo 17’s coast to the moon may not occur precisely as sched uled because the trip to lunar orbit has been speeded up to make up the time lost by the de layed launch. Truman’s Health '‘Critical’ By CHET CURRIER Associated Press Writer KANSAS CITY <A>> _ Former President Harry S. Truman, fighting congested lungs and a weakened heart, remained on the critical list today but medical of ficials said his condition was im proved. A statement issued at 10 a.m. EST by Research Hospital and Medical Center, where Truman was taken late Tuesday, said: ‘.‘His age (88) and the potential of sudden change require that he continue to be described as criti cal.” But the hospital’s hourly bul letin reported “he is not in a coma and is becoming more re sponsive to stimuli.” An hour earlier, the spokesman had said Truman was in a “deep stupor but responsive to painful stimuli as differentiated from a coma — when the patient is unrespon sive.” Truman’s condition was down graded from serious to critical late Wednesday, and John Dreves, spokesman for Research Hospital, said he had suffered a “temporary relapse.” He said Truman’s condition later stabil ized, however. At Truman’s bedside were his wife Bess and her sister-in-law, Mrs. George Wallace, the hos pital said. T r u m a n’s temperature was 102.8 degrees, the hospital said, indicating “he is not responding to antibiotics administered intra muscularly, necessitating the ad ministration of the antibiotics in travenously. “The administration is being performed with extreme care to prevent adverse reactions because of his known allergies,” a hos pital spokesman said. An hour earlier, the hospital said Truman’s condition was in a “very delicate and critical bal ance.” The hospital’s definition of “critical” includes the phrase “death may be imminent.” Dreves said: “In response to speculation about the cause of Mr. Truman’s hospitalization, Dr. Graham said that pulmonary difficulties had been treated at home, as indi cated, for the past two weeks. The acute phase and heart fail ure began the night before hos pitalization while the arterio sclerosis has been a gradual change for some time.” In earlier bulletins Dr. Gra ham said the bronchial problem was complicated by a mild weak ening of the heart caused by hardening of the arteries. Dreves said at the evening briefing the reference to heart failure was synonymous with the weakening described earlier. The rest of Dreves’ statement read: “Mr. Truman is receiving occa sional administration of carbon dioxide to stimulate the in creased blood flow interspersed with the inhalation therapy treat ments noted at the afternoon con ference. He is also using a flota tion mattress to prevent imped ing the circulation.” Dreves said the carbon dioxide is being administered by mask. Dreves was relaying written questions from newsmen to Dr. Graham. Rolling Stone’s Mick Jagger Stars In CAC’s ‘Performance’ A&M Library Will Be Open 24 Hours A Day For Finals Around-the-clock quiet for semester finals study will be available to A&M students at the University library Dec. 12-15. The facilities will be available to prepare for exams 88 straight hours, from the regular 8 a.m. opening time Dec. 12. TAMU fall semester finals are scheduled Dec. 13-16, 18 and 19. Circulation Librarian Mel Dodd said the main checkout desk, division service desks and reserve room will close at midnight and reopen at 8 a.m. during the period. Studying students may use accessible shelf materials in the library, however. Doormen will be on duty. The final exam study arrangement has worked well for the last couple of years, Director of Libraries John B. Smith noted. The last Contemporary Arts Committee Film Series movie of the fall semester will be present ed in the Memorial Student Cen ter Ballroom at 8 p.m. Friday. Mick Jagger “Performance” is one of the most contemporary films slated in the series and features Rolling Stone Mick Jagger and James Fox in the life of a superstar. The film is set in London and was shot on-location. It is a story of the underworld and an incisive probe into the effects of love and hate on human relationships. Jack Nitsche wrote the music except for “Memo From Turner” by Jagger and Keith Richards, also of the Stones. Joining Jagger in providing vocals for the soundtrack are Randy Newman and Buffy Saint- Marie. Merry Clayton and “The Lost Poets” are also featured on the soundtrack. Randy Newman directed the film. Tickets are one dollar for A&M students and $1.50 for all others. Refreshments will be available. tion goes to court to try to pre vent publication,” Rather related. There are “some few things” that should be kept secret, he ad mitted, but “the question to be answered is whether it being known will embarrass the U. S., or a candidate for political of fice.” “What goes on in the Depart ments of Commerce or Agricul ture,” he queried, “that 400 to 500 pieces of paper a day need to be kept secret?” Rather, a Texas-born and train ed reporter who views his as an adversary relationship (“an im portant cat-dog relationship”) with politicians, said that “more and more in recent years, espe cially on the part of this admin istration, leaders have tried to manage the news. They mislead reporters, and by misleading re porters, they mislead you.” He said each administration from that of Kennedy on “has gotten a little bolder in selling the idea that society’s problems are the fault of the press, like pointing out the growing gap be tween the haves and the have- nots.” “How long has it been since you heard top U. S. leadership admit it has made a serious policy mistake?” the speaker posed. (See Dan Rather, page 2) Banking is a pleasure at First Bank & Trust. Adv. Cohen Calls Occult ‘Handle On Life’ Most young persons turning to the occult, are from families without religious backing and are searching for a similar type hold ing on life, said Daniel Cohen, editor of Science Digest. “People have more things than they ever had before, but they’re still not happy,” said Cohen in speaking before an almost full house in the Memorial Student Center Ballroom Wednesday night. “No one seems to care to change things anymore. The world seems too big and complex to change. Instead people turn to the occult to get some sort of Daniel Cohen handle on the world in order to understand it better.” Cohen, a skeptical observer of the occult, said ‘occult’ means hidden knowledge derived from ancient times when secrets were intrusted to a few. Belief in the occult was thought to be dying in the 18th century or the “enlightenment period.” “But there is a greater interest in occultism today than there has been in the last century,” said Cohen. “In the late 19th and early 20th century, there was a rise of spiritualism,” Cohen continued. “But this growth did not change things much. I wonder if the rise in interest of occultism is a sign of change today?” Several reasons were used by Cohen to justify the growth in interest of the subject. Included in these reasons were the decline in organized religion, a disen chantment with science, a sense of individual lack of power, drugs and the anti-establishment fig ure. “Parapsychologists and astrol- ogists don’t like to admit they are part of occultism, but they are,” emphasized Cohen. Astrology, in a short summa tion, began with the creation of civilization and was originally intended for one person — the king. There was no meaning in the stars for the commonfolk un til the Greeks expanded astrol ogy into what it is today. The meaning of astrology is a foretelling of the future according to the position of the stars at the time of birth. “Astrologers pretend to tell us something about ourselves,” said Cohen. “Witchcraft is basically the practice of bad or evil magic,” continued Cohen. “Originally priests looked upon witches as competition as they offered im mediate relief to their subjects, even if this relief did not neces sarily happen. All priests could do was to submit a request to the subjection of God.” “Modern spiritualism never really got off the ground as an organized movement until 1888 when a family called ‘The Foxes’ heard strange rapping noises in the form of signals in their home.” “It became a popular move ment and led directly to the study of parapsychology which hasn’t yet given up on the idea of try ing to find some proof of im mortality,” said Cohen. University National Bank “On the side of Texas A&M.” —Adv.